AN ASSESSMENT OF LAND MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES IN ABUJA

AN ASSESSMENT OF LAND MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES IN ABUJA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

Land is a scarce resource that supplies food, housing, and safety to the world’s inhabitants. Its efficient management is required not only to meet basic human requirements, but also to make people’s lives more connected, comfortable, and profitable. Better towns, well and more effectively placed infrastructure and utilities, secure and fair land rights for all, including women and indigenous peoples, fewer dispute of land, and higher economic stability and growth are all benefits of competent land management.

Land management systems are made up of textual records that specify rights and/or information, as well as geographical records that define the scope of those rights and/or information. They are fundamental tools for land management that work within the confines of land policy and the legal, social, and environmental context of a given jurisdiction. Land management systems are critical for promoting economic growth, social cohesion, and environmental sustainability. Any government aspiring to greater heights in economic development, among other things, must consider making reforms to its land administration system.

Land management and administration has a significant influence on the development, economy, and civil society, and is one of the modern society’s supports. Although states are the most important stakeholders in land administration, there are others who represent corporations and private individuals. The primary land administration function is to manage data about real estate ownership and to provide that data to interested parties upon request. The Land Administration System is used for land administration (LAS). LAS primarily collects information about real estate, such as its position, ownership, value, and use, as well as physical, geographical, and topographic information, legal data refers to information on a property’s location, ownership, value, and use, and it is kept in a land register. As a result, the approach that will ensure fair allocation, distribution, and redistribution of land in an efficient and effective manner is becoming increasingly complex, posing a challenge to land administration and management systems, particularly in developing countries such as Nigeria.

In Nigeria, the debate has continued to rage as to the domicile of ownership within the land management arrangement in the country, particularly with promulgation of the Land Use Act in 1978. There is dichotomy among scholars, jurist and stakeholders as to where ownership lies in land matters; that is, whether it is in the State or in the individual citizen. Though it has been said that; ‘ownership of land per se is irrelevant, it is however incontestable that ownership of land confers indelible rights and opportunities of the holders of the ownership rights. With respect to land, ownership refers to the right of the owner of land to possess, use, or otherwise benefits from, as well as disposes of, the land (Qin, 1994). It is the largest right that can exist in land. Ownership vests in the claimant an immediate or mediate right to possession of land that is not restricted or curtailed by any superior right vesting in another person (Olawoye, 1974).

Land management is focused on implementing decisions that have been made on the use of land resources geared toward ensuring regulatory and supervisory role between land administration and land policy. Terrafrica (2005) defined land management as “the adoption of land use systems that, through appropriate management practices, enable land users to maximize the economic and social benefits from the land, while maintaining or enhancing the ecological support functions of the land resources”. Land management can be seen to play a coordinating role between land policy and land administration. Its objectives are to fulfill the environmental, economic, and social goals of land policy by planning, promoting and controlling efficient land use through the process of land administration. According to Dale and Mclaughlin, (1988), it is important to note that, diverse methodologies utilized in explaining the synergy connecting “land management, policies and administration” do exist, as land management is seen to incorporate land administration and land policy. An effective land management system ensures that the land administration tools such as land registration and valuation, cadastre, land use information system are properly handled so as to ensure the appropriate implementation of the various land policy instruments ranging from improving land tenure security, regulation of land market, etc. to land taxation and land use planning and control. As such land management is strategized toward ensuring sustainability towards social equality, economic development and environmental protection in order to solve the problems of land inaccessibility. It is against this background that this study seek to assess land management challenges in Abuja.

1.2       Statement of the Problems

Prior to the promulgation of the Land Use Decree of 1978 in Nigeria, there were no uniform land management and administration system. In Nigeria, land was communally owned and vacant plots were allocated by the Chief or the Emir in whom the land was vested. No individual had absolute title to land. The traditional ruler held all land in trust for the use of the whole community. In Southern Nigeria, a kind of dualism existed in the ownership and control of land in which some parts or the land in a community were owned by individual families and others reserved for grazing, hunting, civic use etc. was held in trust for the community and administered by the traditional-ruler the Oba. The decree, among other things, puts all land in urban areas under the control and management of the governor of each state and all other land under the Local Government in which the land is situated. The governor working through the Land Use and Allocation Committee has the power to grant statutory rights of occupancy to any person for all purposes while the Local Government working through Land Allocation Advisory Committee has the power to grant customary rights of occupancy. It is against this background that success or failure of land reforms and administration can be evaluated. Observations in many countries, especially the developing countries, have shown the lofty objectives of land administration instruments, such as Nigeria’s Land Use Decree, are hardly achieved. Only in few countries are modest achievements made. Farvacque and McAuslan (1992) have identified, in their comprehensive study, a number of problems militating against successful land  management policies, these are: Over centralization of management and administration, Inappropriate, over detailed and inflexible regulatory and legal frameworks, lack of inappropriate use of resources and political will to tackle problems, administrative systems lacking in efficiency, equity, accountability and probity, and failure or reluctance to encourage participation from the urban poor.Abuja, the federal capital territory is face with a lot of challenges in the management of land especially in the area of plot allocation and compliance with the Abuja Master Plan. It in the light of the above that this study seek to assess land management challenges in Abuja.

 1.3      Aim and Objectives of the Study

1.3.1    Aim

The aim of this study is to carryout an assessment of land management challenges in Abuja with the view of ascertaining its effects on socio-economic activities of the residence of Federal Capital Territory.

1. Objectives
   1. To identify methods of land acquisition in Abuja.
   1. Ascertain the produces or method of land management in the study area
   1. To determine the problems associated with land management in the study area.

1.4       Research Questions

1. What are the methods of land acquisition in Abuja?
2. What are the procedures or methods method land management in the study area?
3. What are the associated problems of land management in Maiduguri metropolis?

1.5       Justification of study

The difficulty of accessibility of land by the average Nigerian justifies the need of this study. It is believed that the results of this research will be of great importance to aspiring land owners and property developers, the government, land officers in the Ministry of Lands and Housing, and members of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers.

1.6       Scope and Limitation of the Study

The scope of this study is limited to the appraisal of mismanagement of land in Maiduguri metropolis, this is to enable the researcher carried out an in-depth study at a manageable level.
The following are the limitations which may have likely affected the comprehensive and adequacy of the findings of the study:

1. Lack of accessibility to the master plan AbujaMetropolics.
2.  There is limitation to documents on the number of approved development and non approved development at local development. This would have enable to know the number of properties that complied with master plan if there any.
3. There is inadequate transportation facilities which would enable the researcher to access the outer peri-urban to gather more information

1.7       DEFINITION OF TERMS

1. Land: Land is the part of the earth surface that is not covered by water, as opposed to the sea or the air.
2. Problems: These refer to difficulties an individual faces, come across or encounter while searching for land.
3. Land Administration: is a system comprising of sub-system that actualizes strategies to implement land policy and other. Land Administration is the way in which the rules of land tenure are applied and made operational.